Box and Whisker Plots and the 5

number summary
Mr. J.D. Miles
Turner Middle School
Atlanta Georgia
milesmath@gmail.com
www.JovanMiles.com

The 5 Number Summary

The five number summary is another name for
the visual representation of the box and whisker
plot.
The five number summary consist of :
The median ( 2nd quartile)
The 1st quartile
The 3rd quartile
The maximum value in a data set
The minimum value in a data set

Constructing a box and whisker

plot
Step 1 - Find the median.
Remember, the median is the middle value in a
data set.
18, 27, 34, 52, 54, 59, 61, 68, 78, 82, 85, 87, 91, 93, 100

68 is the median of this data set.

Constructing a box and whisker

plot
Step 2 Find the lower quartile.
The lower quartile is the median of the data set
to the left of 68.
(18, 27, 34, 52, 54, 59, 61,) 68, 78, 82, 85, 87, 91, 93, 100

52 is the lower quartile

Constructing a box and whisker

plot
Step 3 Find the upper quartile.
The upper quartile is the median of the data set
to the right of 68.
18, 27, 34, 52, 54, 59, 61, 68, (78, 82, 85, 87, 91, 93, 100)

87 is the upper quartile

Constructing a box and whisker

plot
Step 4 Find the maximum and minimum
values in the set.
The maximum is the greatest value in the data
set.
The minimum is the least value in the data set.
18, 27, 34, 52, 54, 59, 61, 68, 78, 82, 85, 87, 91, 93, 100

18 is the minimum and 100 is the maximum.

Constructing a box and whisker

plot
Step 5 Find the inter-quartile range (IQR).
The inter-quartile (IQR) range is the difference
between the upper and lower quartiles.

Upper Quartile = 87
Lower Quartile = 52
87 52 = 35
35 = IQR

The 5 Number Summary

Organize the 5 number summary
Median 68
Lower Quartile 52
Upper Quartile 87
Max 100
Min 18

Graphing The Data

Notice, the Box includes the lower quartile,
median, and upper quartile.
The Whiskers extend from the Box to the max
and min.

Analyzing The Graph

The data values found inside the box represent the

middle half ( 50%) of the data.

The line segment inside the box represents the median

Practice
Use the following set of data to create the 5
number summary.
3, 7, 11, 11, 15, 21, 23, 39, 41, 45, 50, 61, 87, 99, 220

Median
What is the median or 2nd quartile?
3, 7, 11, 11, 15, 21, 23, 39, 41, 45, 50, 61, 87, 99, 220

The median is 39

Lower Quartile ( 1st Quartile )

What is the lower or 1st quartile?
(3, 7, 11, 11, 15, 21, 23), 39, 41, 45, 50, 61, 87, 99, 220

The lower quartile is 11

Upper Quartile ( 3rd

Quartile )
What is the upper or 3rd quartile?
3, 7, 11, 11, 15, 21, 23, 39, (41, 45, 50, 61, 87, 99, 220)

The upper quartile is 61

Maximum
What is the maximum?
3, 7, 11, 11, 15, 21, 23, 39, 41, 45, 50, 61, 87, 99, 220

The max is 220

Minimum
What is the minimum?
3, 7, 11, 11, 15, 21, 23, 39, 41, 45, 50, 61, 87, 99, 220

The min is 3

The 5 Number Summary

Median - 39
Lower Quartile - 11
Upper Quartile - 61
Max - 220
Min - 3

Graphing The Data

Take out your graph paper so we can practice
graphing the data.

Box and Whisker Plots and the 5

number summary
Mr. J.D. Miles
Turner Middle School
Atlanta Georgia
www.JovanMiles.com